Government Saves Budget, HIMKI Reveals This Impact On The Furniture Industry Sector

JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto's budget savings are considered to hamper the potential for export share expansion to reduce government spending on industrial products.

Chairman of the Indonesian Furniture and Crafts Industry Association (HIMKI) Abdul Sobur said that his party relied heavily on international exhibition program facilities held by the government for the expansion of the furniture market share. The reason is, the cost of holding exhibitions abroad requires a lot of funds.

"We want an exhibition in Dubai with support from the government, the Industry (Ministry) and the Trade (Ministry). It must be canceled, even though it is important to target emerging markets. This year it must be canceled due to efficiency," said Sobur when met by reporters after the press conference at the Indonesia International Furniture Expo (IFEX) 2025 at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta, Thursday, March 6.

Sobur assessed that international exhibitions are important for the furniture industry, especially those that are not yet financially qualified. Meanwhile, other furniture industries that have financial capacity are currently expanding towards non-traditional market destinations such as China, the Middle East to India.

In fact, Indonesia has the potential to diversify furniture raw materials that attract various countries. Such as teak wood, exotic wood, including rattan, bamboo, to mahogany wood and others.

In addition, Sobur assessed, the effect of cutting the government budget could reduce the sales performance of the domestic furniture industry by up to 50 percent.

"Last year, it was almost the same as exports, yes, equity, for example at 2 billion US dollars. (The existence of budget efficiency) must (domestic furniture industry) decrease by 50 percent, maybe. The biggest expenditure is government spending," said Sobur.

According to Sobur, the decline in sales was due to government spending on educational facilities such as tables and school degrees to government office facilities. He projects that the potential figures absorbed for these facilities reach Rp20 billion.

"Kami, kan, jelas kemarin (2024) mengalami pertumbuhan di angka 5-6 persen. Kalau saya duga, ya, market dunia sekarang tumbuh sekitar 7 persen, seharusnya kami tumbuh di angka itu meskipun (ada efektensi anggaran dan perang dagang)," imbuhnya.